Prior to the advent of community policing in the mid-1980's, the conventional method for policing urban America was through random patrol. Police officers using patrol cars outfitted with land-mobile radio systems would randomly police often unfamiliar neighborhoods. These mobile patrols responded to an endless string of radio calls from the 911 operator which permitted them to rapidly arrive at crime scenes, though usually after the suspects had fled. Such a philosophy of reactive random patrol did not generally allow for individual officers to become familiar with and responsible for specific community problems.
In 1984, the Vera Institute of Justice developed the Community Patrol Officer Program (CPOP) which was implemented by the New-York City Police Department over the next four years. Thus, New York City became the first large-scale application of the "community policing" philosophy in the United States. Part of the goal of community policing is to put community patrol officers (CPOs) back on foot patrol to an assigned "beat". The overall goal of these efforts is to put the CPO in touch with the neighborhoods that they are responsible for protecting. The CPO must identify problems within his community and then work with the community, utilizing various resources, to try and solve those problems.
To better grasp the concept of community policing, FIG. 4a illustrates in flowchart form various "elements" 10a-10g underlying that philosophy, together with the interrelationship of those elements as part of the concept. At least seven basic elements underlie the community policing philosophy: communication (10a); supervision (10b); documentation (10c); problem analysis (10f); strategic planning (10e); progress review (10d); and investigation (10g). Underlying all of these elements, of course, is the input communicated between the community 12 and the police officers.
Elements 10a-10g thus represent basic components associated with problem solving in the community and these elements interact with each other during the CPO's efforts. As illustrated in FIG. 4a, the element of communication 10a interacts with input from the community 12 as a gauge of the officer's efforts and progress in addressing community problems, while also relating both to supervisory efforts 10b in guiding the officer and to the documentation 10c of the CPO's communications both with his supervisory authorities 10b and with the community 12, all to enable the officer to organize his planning efforts to address the problem in the community. Similarly, the supervisor 10b can influence the CPO's documentation 10c and communicate 10b with the CPO in an effort to guide the officer. Fundamental to the officer's work is his investigative effort 10g, which will interact with his problem analysis 10f in identifying the problem, which in turn is related to the CPO's documentation efforts 10c or influenced by his supervisor 10b and the communication 10a gleaned from the community 12. In turn, the officers' strategic planning 10e will be influenced in addressing the problem and guide him in the analysis of his progress 10d in solving the problem. The officer's problem analysis 10f influences his strategic planning efforts 10e that in turn is guided by his documentation efforts 10c. Strategic planning 10e interacts with problem analysis 10f and the officer's documentation 10c, while in turn the strategic planning influences the officer's goals and strategies in assessing his progress 10d in solving the problem. Progress review 10d in turn is guided by the documentation process 10c.
As might be imagined from the intricate elemental relationship underlying the philosophy of community policing, an underlying objective in community policing is to give the CPOs the training, resources, and discretionary freedom needed to allow them to become familiar with and creatively address a community's real concerns. This implies a shift away from the traditional command and control view of policing toward a view that allows more room for innovation.
The realization of effective community policing depends upon the development of suitable problem-solving tools that are tailored to the CPO's needs in effectively correlating the elements underlying the philosophy. One prior art technique, developed by the Vera Institute in the mid-1980's, was a loose-leaf notebook known as a "beatbook" that contained a variety of printed forms providing a framework for implementing the elements of community policing. Thus, the loose-leaf notebooks sought to provide a mechanism for documenting the officer's communicative relations with the community 12 and the supervisory authorities 10b, and to otherwise document his information-gathering efforts 10g and his problem-solving efforts 10d-f in the field. The notebooks lead officers through a monthly prioritization of issues/problems encountered on their beats, and implemented a written outline of proposed remedies. In addition, the notebook acted as a resource directory and contained profiles of Community businesses, organizations and city agencies.
While providing an innovative approach, in practice the loose-leaf notebooks have not proven very successful as a problem-solving tool. Owing to its handwritten, notebook-style format, and the fact that there are 16 to 25 separate books for each police precinct, the current notebooks are not well-suited to data entry or to information retrieval, nor are they conducive to meaningful interaction by the officers preparing them, their supervisors, or by other officers concerned with that beat. Officers have found the notebooks difficult to use as investigative tools and in large measure they have been reluctant to document their activities or to cross-reference them. This, in turn, has hindered supervisory efforts to guide the officers in their progress towards solving problems. Thus, the present notebooks have not been used by CPOs as intended to further the goals of community policing.
There exists a need, therefore, for a system of implementing and organizing data, information, and solutions necessary for CPOs in their efforts to implement community policing which is readily compact and adaptable to use by multiple CPOs and supervisors.
The present invention solves the problems inherent in its predecessor and thus allows officers to better identify opportunities to track persistent problems in their communities, to solve problems, to share information with their colleagues and supervisors, and to execute and evaluate a variety of remedial strategies.